Afternoon of June 12, Nguyen Bac Son, Minister of Information and Telecommunications held online chats with the public via the Electronic Portal of the Government, on hot issues relating to management of the press.
Minister Nguyen Bac Son said in recent years the press has always followed goals, principles, policy guidelines and laws of the Party and State.
However, some newspapers, particularly subsidiary newspapers, have of late published several articles not suitable to the principles and goals of the press. These are very serious violations which have not been corrected for long time.
The Minister also said that there are a few papers that provide fabricated and false information, thus violating journalistic ethics. This phenomenon in particular needs to be condemned, Son stated.
He also mentioned some newspapers that tend to exploit private lives of artists, singers by publishing pictures, photos and information that are contrary to the habits and customs of the Vietnamese people, causing concern in society. "We are finding and have applied positive measures to end this phenomenon," Minister Nguyen Bac Son said.
According to Minister Son, there are currently 786 press organizations in Vietnam, 194 print newspapers, more than 590 magazines, 61 news websites and 67 television and broadcasting stations, plus 17,000 journalists with licensed press cards.
There are also 61 newspapers, 191 social networking sites and more than 1,000 pages of electronic information, added Minister Son.
However he acknowledged that the management of electronic newspapers has proved more difficult because of their new format and rules of management.
The electronic newspaper also makes mistakes, though these errors occur for hours, minutes, and seconds.
The Minister stressed that in order to conduct effective management; the Government must issue additional sanctions.
He also raised concerns that the phenomenon of copying, pasting in electronic newspapers, though not quite popular, still exists in a large scale.
This phenomenon is violating journalists’ ethics, copyright and intellectual property rights that we do not allow in the press anymore, Minister Son stressed.
The Minister also spoke of his thoughts on the fact that some blogs, personal websites often post information against the State policy or write negatively, distorting individual privacy, provide information in a vague manner, cause confusion in public, and sow internal divisions.
Minister Nguyen Bac Son said that by taking advantage of press democracy and modern information technologies and short comings in operations of the network or in electronic press management, many bloggers delivered negative information that has led to unethical violation of citizens, which in turn affects the true freedom of others.
"This behavior is not only violating Press Law but other laws as well,” the Minister said.
He added that relevant management agencies had drafted a decree amending Decree 97 on management of activities on the Internet, including Internet management, online games and blogs.
Regarding a question on communication planning until 2020, Minister Son said the ministry was drafting a plan which included the transformation from analog to digital television.
